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Saturday, July 27, 2013

You may remember I alluded to soap bubbles in a post a while back. Well, mixed with some Dylusions ink and blown (yep, like you used to when you were a kid) onto CS, they make for some pretty cool images. As well as some spots on your walls and spectacles!

I got the idea from here. It was quite fun and I picked a portion of the CS sheet with some good bubble splats for my card front and a sentiment which I thought fit perfectly. Must admit I was disappointed that this card was not picked up. It's such a fun idea. So if you're looking for some messy fun with the kids or grandkids, you might want to remember this.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

OK, this was a card that I bravely submitted for a call for watercolors. DD had actually stamped the images (inking up the stamps just as they were on the acetate and stamping them) and then used some watercolors to color in the BG. I decided to just add the sentiment and attach it to a pink cardbase. Oh, and a bit of glitter never hurts, right?

I'm not surprised that it was not published. But it was fun to see it morph from what it was into a card that just welcomed the newest addition to our family on my Dad's side! Welcome, Kennedy.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

This is the point of every vacay where I start to get melancholic. Nearly time to head back "home." Hmmm, where is home? I love life in Germany but I love life in Michigan too. Barefoot and happy from the moment I step foot into my folks' house.

Anyhoo, I've another card for you of the Design Seeds type... just can't find the original color palette to share with you. Again, white and black were prohibited (black was one of the colors in the palette - so I chose it).

Now this is probably a good example of less-than-perfect embossing. I think it was better in real life, but the photo sure looks grainy. But I like the feel of the "bubbles", as in champagne, as in party, as in "let's make some noise."

Chose my CS, did some dry embossing, punched some circles and added some party confetti, alias sequins. Are they already passe I wonder?

Some die cut chevrons-turned-arrows, even using some metallic CS for a "silky" effect. Some CASual Fridays stamps and a zebra tone-on-tone BG. Sequins too. And lightly inked edges. And Cutter Bee faux stitching. Quite a lot for me, actually. I like how this design seems alive. But rejected.

Hope you are enjoying the heat if you're in the Midwest! Glad we have a lake to spend the day in.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

So, there was this submission call to create cards using Design Seeds color palettes. Love those. But to create a card based purely on a color palette (no white or black allowed!) is truly challenging for me. So many possibilities and that makes my life SOOO difficult. I cannot wait to see the cards selected for that issue!

I went with a design I had used earlier and made a baby card cuz I thought the colors would work.

Some misting, some PP circles, some stitching and sequins. A less-than-perfectly-aligned stamped sentiment... was that the kicker? Or too many colors in the PPs. Don't know. Never will. That's OK. It's been used already :)

I'm joining the challenge at CASual Fridays #109 cuz I've got dots even if they're not doing the polka.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

It's kinda crazy. If you start to play the submission/publication game there are three things to get your head around:

You have to be in the mood for Christmas in Spring, Valentine's Day in Summer, etc.

You need to know your supplies. Did I mention you need to know your supplies?

There are lightyears between submitting and seeing your project in the magazine!

But the wait is over. You can see it here or in the Birthday Creations edition of Paper Crafts Magazine on page 55. (Still pinching myself!)

As I mentioned in this post, I kept to a theme/technique for my cards when I submitted for the first time. Thought that if they kept seeing the die cut "hb2u" idea it might grow on 'em ;) I doubt that that makes any difference to tell you the truth.

Funny thing about this card was that it came together as an afterthought! Some of the die cut letters that were left over from the die cut negatives that I used on other cards for the submission were laying around in a little pile on my ironing board... and looking at them I got the idea for the "Scrambled Happy Birthday."

I do like this card as I look at it again. Guess it's a good one to have as a "first." I was a little nervous, wondering if it would actually appear in the print issue or just the digital one. DD was embarrassed at the book store when we were flipping through the issue and I saw it was actually in the print issue and I may have let out a little shriek! There it is, paired with a great "29 forever" card from Wendy S. Of course I wonder why this card and not another from the bunch I submitted, but hey, that's not my job. Oh, this was kinda nice too!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Ever seen a card morph? Well, you saw this card in my previous post as it was submitted for a Christmas card call - Christmas cards using non-Christmas products. And rejected. Now you will see it as it was tweaked and submitted for a different call, as a birthday card this time.

Only changed the size of the star bearing the sentiment and the sentiment itself. PC-generated the sentiment which is a play on that old rhyme "I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight". Remember that? When you make a wish on a star?

Well, I love this version too, but the mag didn't. So it's being retired ;)

BTW, I'm on vacay in MI right now and having one heck of a time trying to pull photos into my blog posts from my flickr account. Blogger will not recognize the URL of my flickr page. So I finagled something by copying HTML code in - way too techie for me ... can you see the photo OK?

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

OK. So then there was a call for submissions for Christmas cards. Sticking with my "I have to have a theme" line of thinking, I went with stars.

You may remember I was on a bokeh kick awhile back. Well bokeh met stars for this card.

I stamped the bokeh dots on the cardbase and then adhered vellum between the base and the textured and die cut CS. Added sequins like the night stars and one star "falling" with the sentiment. "Wishes", as in "wish on a falling star." I kinda liked the idea. But the mag didn't.

I was happy to get some constructive criticism on this one and was told that the sentiment didn't really fit the theme and it was hard to read. OK. Back to the drawing board.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

I like the misting (Dylusions inks BTW) even better on this card than on the other misted one. And the white embossed letters are easier to decipher on this design. That "2" on the recycled acetate? Eh. And if you look closely you'll see the risk when embossing large areas. Difficult to get perfect coverage, which leads to some spray ink finding its way into the nooks and crannies. Now, does that make for a reject? My theory is that if you have a knock-their-socks-off card, then no it doesn't. But it sure doesn't help a mediocre specimen. Just sayin'.

Friday, July 5, 2013

In my last post you've met the shower gel can that inspired my first card that I actually submitted to a magazine. I mentioned that I submitted it for the Inspired By feature in Paper Crafts. Well, while there I checked out the submission calls that were current and saw the call for Birthday Creations: Vol. 3. And I decided to give it a go and make some more cards.

Now I've always been known as the gal who has to have a theme. Birthday parties have a theme. Rooms in the house have a theme. Or a feel. When I took pics in college with my sorority sisters, I was the one who made everyone lay down on the floor so our heads were in a circle and the photo shot from above. Or I made my big and little sisters climb a tree to get a shot of our "family". Family tree. Get it? Tja, not everyone loved my ideas but the photos were definitely cool!

So I figured if I was going to submit cards to a call, they were going to have to have a theme. And the "hb2u" idea was born.

Meet hb2u vines2.

Tja. The ink color is an amazing reddish-pinkish-orange. No idea where the bling idea came from but I think it works. And I will use this card, but I must admit my generational stamping is less than perfect = publication reject.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Welcome to the first in my "Parade of Rejects." Parade - cuz it's nearly July 4th and I've got a good few entries to share with you. And rejects - well they are. They've been to a couple submission calls and back and they weren't selected. The word may sound negative, but I'm not. I'm enjoying this submission thang...

Hold on to your hats. This can is what made me actually submit a card for the very first time. In a roundabout way that is.

I was relaxing in the tub, staring at this wonderful can of shower gel DD had given me for Christmas, and I thought "hey, that's a cool logo." And "hey, I could make a card based on that." And "hey, Paper Crafts has that Inspired By page at the end of each issue." Tja, now you know how some crazy ideas are born.

So. How to translate it into a card? Papertrey gingko leaves. And Memory Box die cut letters/numbers. I actually ordered the numbers to make this card cuz I didn't have 'em. And no, they weren't on sale ;) And this is what happened.

Well I certainly enjoyed the process on this. But trust me, it's a reject. It's been submitted a couple times - the experts say if it comes back three times, give it up. OK. I'm givin' up. But I still like it. I would love to hear your constructive criticism on my rejects - so many talented designers out there who might have a tip or two for moi. I'm a true believer that you're never too old to learn :)